NYC Native to Pittsburgh Transplant - Advice Please! (York, Liberty: 2015, apartment complex)

[nycgirl1102]

Since I'm on my own for grad school, I definitely won't be applying for a couple of years. I do really like the mfa programs at Carlow and CMU.

What would be the best way to find job openings in Pittsburgh? I saw the Pittsburgh Post Gazette has job listings, would that be a good starting point?

From your posts I've narrowed it down to South Side, North Oakland. Bloomfield, and Lawrenceville.

[SteelCityRising]

Greater Pittsburgh is most certainly "a region of neighborhoods". Allegheny County has more than 100 different municipalities in and of itself, and the city proper of Pittsburgh has at least 90 officially-recognized neighborhoods (with arguably over 100 unofficially recognized).

Natives of this area tend to be much more provincial than newcomers/transplants. Many of the old-timers don't cross bridges or go through tunnels because they've developed their own little happy network of dining/shopping/nightlife/recreation in their own pockets of the region and have little nomadic desire to branch out and explore. I've lived here since 2010 and have explored and experienced much more than many who have lived here their entire lives because I want to try that new bodega in the South Hills or see a play at that new venue in Westmoreland County or buy a thoughtful gift in that new boutique in the North Hills.

It's fairly easy to get from one area to another around here (save for our admittedly brutal evening rush hour). Most of the East End neighborhoods are walkable/bikeable/busable to one another in a brief period of time. For example, if you live on the eastern side of Friendship, which in and of itself is a tiny neighborhood to begin with, you can walk to an Aldi, two Giant Eagles (one of which is an upscale one), a Whole Foods, a Trader Joe's, and a retro-styled "Shur-Save" market within 30 minutes. You can also easily walk to at least four Starbucks locations, three Crazy Mocha locations (our local coffee chain), two hospitals, and a partridge in a pear tree!

I like living in Polish Hill because it's still relatively cheap rent-wise for being in the urban core of the city, on-street parking is still mostly hassle-free, and you can bike/walk to cool places like the Strip District or Lawrenceville rather quickly.

Most of our urban neighborhoods that are popular with young professionals will have the density/scale of Queens, so there's no reason for you to try to look in the suburbs here to emulate Queens. I think Bloomfield would suit you very well---close to Oakland (meds/eds); close to Lawrenceville (which will probably be Williamsburg-like in 20 years); close to Shadyside (yoga/joggers/drunk blonde chicks laughing loudly in bars); close to East Liberty (emerging "hub" of the East End of the city); close to Squirrel Hill (epicenter of Jewish life and Asian-American life in the city); close to Highland Park (excellent park!!!); etc. Bloomfield is also still sort of cheap because most of the housing/apartments are garbage (and the old-time yinzers think slapping vinyl siding on them makes them "better" for some reason, so it will probably stay cheap for quite some time).

[friendsheep]

Alright.. if you want to move to The City of Pittsburgh and live in a walkable, urban, generally safe, younger & educated area, the roughly highlighted area is where you should be looking. Each neighborhood and area has a distinct feel and pros/cons which a lot of others have touched on.

[friendsheep]

Originally Posted by nycgirl1102

Is Bloomfield near Friendship? Friendship's proximity to places is a major plus

They border each other, see the map I posted above. It's a tiny area geographically.

[nycgirl1102]

Friendsheep, thank you soooooo so much for that map!!! Such a great help!!!

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by nycgirl1102

Is Bloomfield near Friendship? Friendship's proximity to places is a major plus

Bloomfield and Friendship adjoin one another---so much so that locals and transplants often argue about where the exact boundary of the neighborhoods truly are on a block-by-block basis. Friendship's housing stock tends to be more early-1900s Victorian-themed (upper-middle-class in its heyday and now, too) whereas Bloomfield's housing stock tends to be more early-1900s blue-collar mill housing (lower-middle-class in its heyday and solidly middle-class today). By "heyday" I just mean peak population. In many respects Pittsburgh today is MUCH better in terms of quality-of-life than it was in 1945, for example, even though the population has nosedived by hundreds of thousands of people since then.

Friendship, to me, is a bit more desirable because there are street trees whereas trees are VERY scarce in Bloomfield. For as much as I like Bloomfield I'll probably never think it's a "nice" neighborhood until the city invests a bit in some parklets/pocket parks, street trees, public gardens, etc. there. My neighborhood of Polish Hill has a lot of urban blight and eyesores, but it's prettier than Bloomfield in some respects because there's so much vegetation that we even get deer wandering around, not to mention wild turkeys. One day while driving I saw a deer right near the 28th Street Bridge in Polish Hill. I was very tempted to take a photo of the deer with the skyline in the background if I knew I wouldn't be risking a car accident in doing so.

Friendship has grand old homes that have been chopped up into 3, 4, 5 (or more in some cases) units. Those typical 1-BR apartments will probably run you around $800/month, but they may or may not have off-street parking and a few utilities included for that price. Street parking isn't too difficult in Friendship, although it is permit-zoned (I think a permit is $20/year). Bloomfield will run you a tad less for a 1-BR, but you will almost be guaranteed to not have off-street parking. For that price point you may also get more utilities included than you'd get included in the Friendship price, so it's almost a wash financially between renting in either Bloomfield or Friendship.

That's what I've really learned to love about Pittsburgh---the diversity of neighborhoods. You can walk from the Church Brew Works in Lower Lawrenceville to Walnut Street in Shadyside via Bloomfield and Friendship in about a half-hour, but in that short time you'll walk through a wide array of historical eras of architecture and street grids mish-mashed into one another to make things very interesting.

My advice would be to check out BOTH Bloomfield AND Friendship since they pretty much bleed into one another anyways. It's not like living in one would put you at any sort of disadvantage over the other. I know people who live in Bloomfield and walk to work in Oakland. I know students in Oakland who live in Friendship and commute via bus. It seems like Bloomfield/Friendship being sucked into the "eds and meds bubble" of Oakland has been a more recent phenomenon, but if you perhaps get a job Downtown and want to attend night classes eventually in Oakland, then Bloomfield or Friendship would be great fits from a transit standpoint.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by friendsheep

Alright.. if you want to move to The City of Pittsburgh and live in a walkable, urban, generally safe, younger & educated area, the roughly highlighted area is where you should be looking. Each neighborhood and area has a distinct feel and pros/cons which a lot of others have touched on.

Very good map! I'd probably also add the eastern 1/3 of the Hill District (above Herron Avenue) since I think the Upper Hill District is becoming more stable and is gaining traction into the East End "bubble" these days as students and entry-level UPMC types look for cheap rental options nearby. The Upper Hill District has a much better vibe than the rest of the Hill District.

[nycgirl1102]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

It seems like Bloomfield/Friendship being sucked into the "eds and meds bubble" of Oakland has been a more recent phenomenon, but if you perhaps get a job Downtown and want to attend night classes eventually in Oakland, then Bloomfield or Friendship would be great fits from a transit standpoint.

What is the "eds and meds bubble"?

[doo dah]

NYCGirl, have a look at Padmapper.
There are a handful of pre-war and more modern (up to the 1970s) larger apartment buildings in North Oakland (around 70-80 units), in the immediate area of N. Craig St and Centre Avenue. I would suggest that you avoid South Oakland (just west of Schenley Park), as that is mostly undergrad housing, in houses broken up into several apartments; just mentioning it because it is closer to Carlow.
There are also some larger buildings in Shadyside, as well as larger Victorian houses broken up into apartments. It would be very convenient to Chatham.
By the way, it's Pitt, not UPitt, for the University of Pittsburgh. You might keep an eye on their HR page for payroll-type or accounting positions - the pay isn't great, but staff do get tuition remission.

Here is another site that may be useful.

[I_Like_Spam]

Originally Posted by nycgirl1102

What is the "eds and meds bubble"?

Bloomfield and Oakland are dominated by hospitals and universities, that's where most of the working people out that way are engaged in.